What’s the Difference Between Call Centre and Contact Centre?

A call centre differs from a contact centre in that it traditionally only deals with voice calls. As soon as your call centre handle queries from another channel of contact – whether that’s email, live chat, messaging etc. – it becomes the contact centre.

However, while this is technically the case and almost all organisations now handle customer queries over email as well as the phone, the industry is yet to shrug off the call centre label. So, the terms “call centre” and “contact centre” are often used interchangeably.

What are Virtual Call Centres?

While it’s traditional to think of advisors as working in a busy, crowded environments, call centres have become more flexible over time, not just in size but in set up too.

Virtual contact centres consist of individual advisors working from home or smaller groups of advisors working in quieter branch offices.

This trend has led to the emergence of virtual call centres, which consist of individual advisors working from home or smaller groups of advisors working in quieter branch offices.

All of the homeworkers/branch officers use the same cloud technology, so they function as one big contact centre, but from multiple different locations.

Homeworking especially is becoming more popular throughout the industry, with benefits that include; attracting a new demographic of advisors, providing a better work-life balance and increased productivity.

Why are Call Centres Still So Valuable?

One of the new rules of customer service is that the best service is no service and when you look at Amazon’s proposition, this idea gains momentum. So, why do so many brands keep investing in the contact centre?

Fundamentally, call centres are valuable to companies because they provide a platform to customers where the company has the opportunity to enhance its image, resolve problems and to create a stronger customer base.

Call centres are valuable to companies because they provide a platform to customers where the company has the opportunity to enhance its image, resolve problems and to create a stronger customer base.

In addition to this, the data that call centres store is becoming increasingly valuable. Organisations are using this to greater personalise service and track each customer’s journey to be proactive, in order to provide the best possible experience.

How do Contact Centres Measure Performance?

There are certain metrics that can be used to measure the quality of your call centre function and level of customer service.

Call centre metrics are often broken down into three categories:

Historical – These give an indication of the historical demand of the call centre, which helps the team to better forecast, schedule and plan for the future.

e.g. Number of Calls Handled, Forecast Accuracy and Average Handling Time

Real-time – These give an insight into the current demand of the call centre, which enables the team better intraday management and cope with demand.

e.g. Service Level, Wait Time and Advisor Availability

Customer focused – These give an idea of the effectiveness of the customer-advisor conversation interactions within the call centre, particularly in terms of quality.

What Technologies do Call Centres Use?

Traditionally, call centres use a few technologies which are fundamental to their function. These include an ACD system, an IVR and headsets.

However, as customer service has grown to be a competitive differentiator between different organisations, more innovative technologies have begun to emerge.

As customer service has grown to be a competitive differentiator between different organisations, more innovative technologies have begun to emerge.

Many of these technologies are designed on the premise on greater supporting advisors to improve customer service. These include the knowledge base, smart desktops and screen pops.

Then there are technologies designed to reduce contact volumes to better efficiency, these include Workforce Management (WFM) systems, chatbots and process automation.

Yet, that not all. With the call centre’s role in the overall customer experience becoming ever greater, there are also technologies like speech analytics, customer feedback solutions and proactive messaging making there way into the industry.

The 10 Things to Know

While we have already discussed a number of basics, here are ten things that are really useful to know, if you are considering a career in the call centre industry.

1. People Account For Around 70% of Operational Costs

This figure makes people a key asset of an organisation. It is the people in the centre who are the real impact on the customer, even more so than the technology or processes.

Investing in the right people with the right training will provide the right results, but unfortunately many organisations do not view it like that.

Organisations often feel this way due to their view that with high turnover, advisors are not worth investing in. However, one of the key reasons why individuals leave is because of lack of training or progression.

Not having the opportunities to progress is because call centre have very flat structures, with far more advisor roles than leader or manager positions.

Having said that, there are a number of other roles within the call centre. While these often require a specific skill, here are a few positions that you might not have heard about:

2. People are Challenging

Where there are large groups of people working together, management becomes trickier and you will get problems. Call centres have a reputation for turnover and absenteeism.

These challenges make managing the centre especially difficult when you think that the managers have to forecast and plan their resources very tightly against predicted call volumes.

If a centre is under resourced for any reason, then queues will form, customers will become dissatisfied and advisors will be put under more pressure.

If a centre is under resourced for any reason, then queues will form, customers will become dissatisfied and advisors will be put under more pressure.

So, if you are working for a call centre, which you believe to be under resourced, it is important to know how to properly interact and deal with angry customers.

3. Monday is Typically the Busiest Day of the Week

We have all had the weekend to sort our bills or decide on that holiday, so now we are back to our normal week it’s time to pick up the phone and call the call centre. If you need to call a call centre, try to do it on any day but Monday!

Also, Monday contact volumes can be even higher if the call centre is shut on weekends. This, paired with the fact that contact centres often report absenteeism to be higher on Monday than any other day, can make Monday mornings in the call centre even more challenging.

4. More Customers Call Between 10am – 12pm Than at any Other Time!

Why? Typically because those calling have either got into work and are settled into their day, so will make their personal calls (managers usually go for meetings during this time so it is easier) or, they have returned home after doing the school run and are getting on with the things they need to do.

As well as daily patterns, call centres have to be aware of general patterns in contact volumes at an hourly rate as well. In fact, as a lesser known principle is that 40% of the hourly calls are handled within the first 15 minutes of the hour.

In the half an hour after this you’ll likely receive just 30% of your hourly calls, while the final 30% will come into the contact centre in the final quarter of an hour. So, the hourly pattern in call volumes will likely look like the below.

Take a look at your numbers in the call centre and you’ll likely see this pattern emerge.

5. Technology Does Not Always Fully Support the Advisor Doing Their Job

There can be a lot of technology in a call centre, but for a variety of reasons it may not help the advisor to do their job effectively.

Each technology component may be built separately from each other so like a cake mixture, when all the ingredients come together it may not be perfect.

The key factor is to understand how the advisor will use the combination of systems to handle the customer enquiry. The easier it is for the advisor, the better the experience for both the advisor and the customer, when queries need to be solved.

Fully integrated systems are often key to this and over a fifth of call centres have now achieved this through using apps, instead of hardware, made available through one cloud-based system.

6. Advisors are the Voice and Ears of the Company

Advisors will talk to more customers in a day than most other people in the organisation do in a year. They can tell you what is happening with customers, what is important to them and what competitors may be doing.

The best call centres use their advisors as a means of providing feedback to all parts of an organisation.

With this being the case, advisors are an invaluable research tool and can provide a multitude of ideas on how to do things better or what will or will not work.

The best call centres use their advisors as a means of providing feedback to all parts of an organisation, as other departments – such as marketing and the design team – have the potential to source great insights from listening to advisors share customer feedback.

7. Call Centre Managers do Not Have Crystal Balls

The demand on Managers to reach service levels everyday with all the constraints placed on them is probably one of the most challenging jobs we know.

For this reason, most Managers spend their time firefighting existing situations and do not have time to raise their head above the parapet to plan for the future.

Most Managers spend their time firefighting existing situations and do not have time to raise their head above the parapet to plan for the future.

By getting into the detail within the centre, they are not able to think more strategically about what needs to be done to develop or improve current performance.

8. Team Leaders Drive Business Performance

The Team Leader role is critical, provided it involves what its name suggests and that is lead the team of advisors that they are responsible for.

Team Leaders should be present with their team in order to provide support and advice throughout their day. They must also be responsible for coaching and developing their team because it will be these advisors who deliver the service.

While in flat structures of contact centres we often get caught up in the idea of hierarchy. But remember, the key role of a Team Leader is in boosting advisor happiness.

9. The Biggest Critics of Call Centres are Often Within the Company

Call centres are an easy target to criticise, because most people have had a bad experience of one! By criticising the call centre and highlighting it’s failures will enable others to detract attention from their own performance!

Few understand the complexities of call centres and the issue that they have to manage, so it makes them a soft target.

More importantly, call centres may not have a senior sponsor and may be located remotely from the head office – this makes them vulnerable and open to attack.

In fact, our 2018 survey found that these negative perceptions of the call centre are somewhat increasing with 41.6% of industry professionals believing that the call centre is a “cost centre”. This had increased from 39.5% in 2017.

However, we did also find that more organisations are beginning to see the call centre as a “source of insight”. This is great in terms of strengthening the value of the call centre and we, as an industry, need to do more to promote the significance customer insights the we store.

10. Call Centre Can be a Great Place to Work

With a wide range of opportunities to fit many different circumstances, working in the call centre can be great as a first job to provide staff with experience or flexibility in the working hours that are needed to meet family or other commitments.

In addition, with more and more contact centre focusing on the advisor experience, improving culture and adding gamification, there is usually great camaraderie and friendships to be had.

With more and more contact centre focusing on the advisor experience, improving culture and adding gamification, there is usually great camaraderie and friendships to be had.

Also, as call centres are a microcosm of the entire organisation, the learning opportunities are huge. Within a single location you will have exposure to everything – people management, vast amounts of technology, operational management, cultural issues, team working, politics and processes!

In Summary

Call centres are a place in which inbound and/or outbound calls are handled by a team of advisors.

They differ from contact centres in that they only receive/make telephone calls, whereas a contact centre would also include other channels of contact – such as email, live chat, social media etc. Although, the terms are often used interchangeably.

Paul Weald

In recent years, call centre trends have included; the emergence of virtual call centres, a growing value in the customer data and the improving technologies that are at the heart of the operation.

But, if your simply interested in finding out more about call centres, some key takeaways include; Monday is the busiest day of the week, advisors are the voice and ears of the company and, of course, call centres are a great place to work!

Many thanks to Paul Weald for providing much of this information.

To find out more about call centres, try reading any of the following articles:

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You need knowledge and good communication skills to work in the call center industry, because I’ll be working with different clients who know better ,so you always have to prepare and think out of the box

pertunia Nthunya
30 Jul at 8:31 am

Working in a Call Center Also Make You To Be Hospitable, Not Only The Knowledge You Get From, But It Refined You In Dealing With People, I Work With a Hotel Before, And Now I See My Self Working In a Medical Call Center As a Call Agent, And I Love This Job So Much.

G. Kezelee Duonah
2 May at 12:35 pm

Im still a student in a Learnership waiting to do my practicals in call centre industry…it is very interesting learning a callcentre atleast now I know how to handle my customers so Im ready for my practicals yooh its so nice and very interesting